Research update

A few new journal issues have come out lately:

Summer 2016 Personnel Psychology, including:

Transparency of Assessment Centers: Low Criterion-related Validity but Greater Opportunity to Perform?

May 2016 Journal of Applied Psychology, including:

Initial impressions: What they are, what they are not, and how they influence structured interview outcomes.

Racioethnicity, community makeup, and potential employees’ reactions to organizational diversity management approaches.

June 2016 International Journal of Selection and Assessment, including:

Applicant Reactions to Selection Events: Four studies into the role of attributional style and fairness perceptions

Behavioral Cues as Indicators of Deception in Structured Employment Interviews

The Role of Self-focused Attention and Negative Self-thought in Interview Anxiety: A test of two interventions

The Influence of Candidate Social Effectiveness on Assessment Center Performance Ratings: A field study

Discrimination due to Ethnicity and Gender: How susceptible are video-based job interviews?

A Comparison of General and Work-specific Personality Measures as Predictors of Organizational Citizenship Behavior

The Perceived Nature and Incidence of Dysfunctional Assessment Center Features and Processes

Who is Being Judged Promotable: Good actors, high performers, highly committed or birds of a feather?

Research update

 
Cold/wet yet?  Well sit back, have some hot tea, and let's catch up on our research...

Let's start with the biggie: the December issue of IJSA.

-  Juggling selection quality and adverse impact continues to be tricky.  The authors in this article suggest an optimum combination.

- Reflecting results from the turnover literature, this study found a relationship between perceptions of promotion practices and organizational justice and job satisfaction.

- Speaking of justice, the authors of this study found that the relationship between perceptions of distributive justice and intentions to recommend an employer were moderated by applicant affect.

- Job seekers would to well to keep up their psychological well being and self-esteem (easier said than done, right?).

- Back to fairness.  It's reasonable to think that ethnic minority applicants may not perceive video resumes well (due to the increased salience of their minority status).  But at least in this study, that assumption was not supported--although it depended on ethnic identity and language proficiency.

-  Honestly, I'm not one for the pure concept of "multi-tasking": in my experience people perform in serial, not parallel.  But that doesn't stop people from researching the predictive validity of multi-tasking assessments.

- Faking of personality inventories has been one of the hottest topics in assessment for years, but is often framed as dichotomies.  This study looks to bring some needed complexity to the issue using qualitative data.

- We all know it can be challenging to get hiring manager to give up their unstructured interviews of questionable validity.  Interestingly, according to this study, the more a hiring manager has used unstructured interviews, the less open they are to change.  I don't know if this is a causality issue, a mediating variable issue, or more evidence of the inability to accurately judge one's abilities. 

- Need more evidence for discrimination that occurs during resume screening?  Here ya go.

- Understanding why certain individuals perform better during interviews is a needed area for study.  In this article, the authors demonstrate the importance of simply being ability to generate ideas, rather than analyzing the situational requirements.

- This study investigates another area needing more attention: the selection into medical training and education programs.  The authors found strong predictive support for SJTs but they came with lower face validity.

- Last in this issue is another interesting study, this time of 360-ratings of innovation.  Interestingly and unlike a lot of other research on self-perception, self-ratings were lower than overall observer ratings.  However, the situation got more complex when the authors separated and analyzed by level of self-rating.


Next the November issue of Journal of Applied Social Psychology:

- One of the most pervasive (yet bizarrely under-discussed) areas of discrimination in the workplace is age discrimination.  This study illustrates some of the stereotypes held of younger and older workers--by both groups.  (Spoiler alert: you'll find out how accurate some of these are in just a second)

- I've been waiting for this one, partly because I love hearing about how bizarre and non-face valid some puzzle-based interviews are.  This particular study was looking at perceptions of these interviews compared to a behavioral interview.  Results?  The puzzle-based interviews were consistently less popular.  Oh, did I mention that they didn't work as well?


How about the Winter issue of Personnel Psych?

-  Why do certain applicants withdraw from the recruitment process?  This study suggests a relationship with organizational identification.

- Okay, back to stereotypes about older workers.  Whereas the earlier study looked at what the stereotypes are, this one looks at whether they're true.  The answer: no, but for one: older workers are less willing to participate in training and career development.

- Turns out it's not just the unemployed that are frustrated by the job search process--currently employed individuals feel the same in many ways.  Boy it's too bad we don't have a giant shared database that is able to match job demands with worker abilities...wait...


The November issue of Journal of Applied Psychology has a couple gems:

- Evidence for the predictive validity of the external manifestations of personality as well as the associated implicit motives.

-  A reminder that what makes for effective leadership behavior depends on the culture.


The latest issue of Personnel Review has an interesting research article on utility analysis, where the authors reiterate how challenging it can be to communicate UA information (hint: carrot and stick approach may work best).


There are a couple good ones in the November issue of Psychological Science.

- Multiple-choice tests have been beat up in the past for being nothing more than tests of recognition (rather than productive retrieval).  This study presents evidence that refutes that assumption.  Go multiple-choice!

- Conspiracy theorists take note: governments may be less likely to use the assumed relationship between genetic testing and intelligence to pigeon-hole us into tracks.  Why?  Because, at least according to this study, there appears to be little evidence connecting the two.


Okay, this one is pretty cool--in a slightly scary way.  The authors were looking at the impact that virtual avatar attractiveness has on interview ratings.  Turns out our bias toward attractive people is so strong it extends to the virtual world!  Of course maybe I should have seen that coming...I mean, ever read a comic book?  (hat tip)


Still with me? Last but not least, some disturbing new evidence regarding significance testing and potential publication bias (hat tip).  I'm guessing most of you won't be surprised at the finding.


I don't know if I'll have another update before the end of the year, so if I don't, happy holidays to everyone!

Multimedia on the cheap: Xtranormal and Toondoo

When it comes to recruiting, one of the most important things an organization can do is make themselves stand out from other employers. And one of the best ways to do this is by using creative multimedia technologies that demonstrate both creativity and an openness to innovative approaches.

I've written before about some of the exciting technologies out there that employers can use for this purpose, such as simulations and realistic videos. But today I'd like to talk about two more abstract--but perhaps more fun--websites that are easy to use and have a lot of potential.

Oh yes, and they're free (for the basic version). Free is good.

The first is Xtranormal.com. You may have seen some of these videos on YouTube or elsewhere, as it seems to rapidly have become the technology of choice for creating quick animated videos. They have both a web-based design option ("text-to-movie") as well as a more fully featured downloadable version called State.

As the designer, you simply choose a setting, the number of actors, and type in the script. The website adds computer-generated voices for you. You also have control over other features, such as the camera angles for each scene, emotional expressions, and sounds.

Now I'm no designer--as you will quickly see--but I was able to make this video in all of about 10 minutes*.



If you're intrigued, also try GoAnimate.com which is similar but I found to be slightly more cumbersome to use.

The other technology is slightly more old school--panel cartoons. Yes, like the ones you see in the paper.

Here's an example, which took me about 10 minutes using Toondoo:

By BB808 | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

Neither of these websites are perfect. You'll find there's a small learning curve, and you'll wonder why they made certain design decisions. But there really is no reason not to at least try some of these tools.

*Note: In my day job I'm an HR Manager for the California Attorney General's office, but this blog is neither sanctioned nor supported by my employer. For better or worse, these animations were entirely my creation. But what kind of recruiter would I be if I didn't use this opportunity to promote, promote, promote!

Considering employee testimonials? Go video.

In the September 2009 issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology, one study stood out: the authors studied employee testimonials shown on recruitment websites. Results strongly suggest that:

(1) Including some type of testimonials increases your attractiveness as an employer; and

(2) Using more complex multimedia (video with audio) is clearly superior to simply pictures and text in terms of both attractiveness and credibility. This also helps mitigate any perceptual differences that occur when you increase the number of testimonials from minorities.

This is great validation for organizations that have put the time and effort into putting quality videos on their site.

Check out these other studies while you're at it:

Does recruitment method impact turnover? (short answer: yes, in the short run)

Interested in P-E fit? Check out this review and model development.

Like vocational interest inventories and statistics? You'll like this.

Get in the game

Longtime readers know that I've considered one of the holy grails in our field to be a way of combining the interactivity and engaging content of video game technology (VGT) with recruitment and assessment. Yes, part of this is because I enjoy the occasional Nuka-Cola and killing the occasional troll, but there is so much potential in the marriage of these two fields that we can't ignore it.

Up until now, the best efforts have gone one of two ways. The first is creating an entire first person video game for recruitment purposes--this is what the U.S. Army did. The second is using VGT but in a very basic and limited way--this is what the FAA is doing. But to my knowledge no one has created a web-based tool that showcases the basic functionality of VGT while also serving as an assessment tool. In fact many people may not even know what this might look like.

Well I ran across something the other day (hat tip) that gets us pretty darn close. It's actually an onboarding program designed by Vestas, a Danish energy company. It takes the form of a situational judgment test (SJT) that leads new employees through an orientation of what Vestas does and their approach to their business.

I think once you've watched, you'll agree with me that the potential is vast.


So why this type of technology over, say, existing SJT solutions such as those offered by companies like Ergometrics and Biddle? Those definitely still have a place, and live actors are obviously higher fidelity, but here are some advantages to think about:

1. You can do more, and show more, with VGT. Need to show someone hanging onto the bottom of a helicopter then jumping to a rooftop? Not a problem, no wires required. Need to show someone underwater? Scaling a mountaineous peak? Again, much easier (and cheaper).

2. No screen actors required. No more worrying about makeup or getting the right shot--you create what you want. Of course voice talent is still very important if you decide to use sound.

3. It's just plain more modern. For folks that grew up watching cartoons and playing video games, they will naturally gravitate more toward something that feels familiar. Text job descriptions that link to an ATS? Yawn.

4. It will make you stand out. Yes, I know the unemployment rate is high here in the U.S., but don't think that means the end of competing for the most qualified. Now's the time to plan how you're going to compete when the pendulum swings the other way again.

5. It will stand the test of time. People still watch old cartoons. Very few old shows are on. That video shot of the desktop computer in the background may look outdated sooner than you'd like.

but perhaps most importantly:

6. VGT holds the promise of a truly interactive experience, where candidates explore their future work environment, make decisions, and learn about the organization. This has the potential to be both a realistic job preview that helps candidates decide whether to apply, as well as a measurement tool that gauges how well the candidate meets job requirements. (Yes this sounds a bit like Second Life but need not be so complex)


So what do we need to do moving forward? Here are some things we need to make this work:

1. More education. What do projects like this need to succeed? How much do they cost? What are the challenges and potential roadblocks?

2. Outreach to the VGT industry including the big companies (Activision Blizzard, EA, etc.) as well as the smaller shops, industry groups, schools, etc. No doubt they have much to teach us--but we have a lot to share as well. (As an aside, Activision has a very attractive Careers page that showcases some of their work, but they dump applicants right into their ATS like most companies--failed opportunity to continue the brand experience with a game-like character sheet!)

3. What are the psychometric implications? Is this just another version of unproctored Internet testing, or is there more here? How does this relate to run-of-the-mill adaptive testing? Are there demographic differences in willingness or performance?

Now what may throw a big monkey wrench into this is cost. Video games are not cheap (WOW cost $63M to develop). But we're not talking multi-user, latest video card, and all that stuff. This could be much shorter, more cartoonish, and much simpler.

I think this is the most exciting thing happening in assessment; I hope there are enough developers out there that agree.

FAA uses games to hire and train

Turns out all I have to do is post about how we should be using video games for recruitment and assessment, and an example appears!

In this recent article in the New York Times (should be first link), the author describes how the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is using a sophisticated simulator to train air traffic controllers.

Motivated primarily by the impending retirement wave and massive need for new controllers (1,700 a year for the next 10 years) , the FAA has developed a multi-screen simulator that allows trainees to hone their skills in a safe but semi-realistic environment. From the article:

"The tower simulation is realistic. Aircraft first appear as tiny dots against blue sky, clouds or stars. On the ground, drivers of maintenance trucks ask permission to cross a runway so they can fix a lighted sign. A click of the instructor’s mouse can shift the time of day, and change the weather — from rain to hail or cloudy to clear. To make the simulations as unpredictable as in the real world, some pilots ignore instructions."

But it's not only the training that's innovative. The FAA's screening process puts most of ours to shame. Specifically, the candidates complete a six hour (which might be overkill) computerized aptitude test that measures geometry and math ability.

This is followed by "game-like tests" designed to measure things like ability to work under pressure, maintain "situational awareness", short- and long-term memory, multitasking, and flexibility. The tests vary from air traffic simulations to ones that look like Frogger or Tetris.

So someone out there gets it! The system is even decribed as "a big Xbox."

But they could do even better. Here are some ideas how:

1. Use the multi-screen simulator for recruitment and selection, not just training. I really hope they show the system off during recruitment open houses--I know I would. And if it isn't cost prohibitive, and makes sense given entry level requirements, why not use the simulator as part of the screening process?

2. They've got a pretty good recruitment site and make good use of video. Why not add a java-powered mini-game that simulates the job? Maybe have a leader board and allow people to put in their e-mail and opt-in to getting more information about becoming an air traffic controller?

3. On a related note, why not go the route of America's Army and mix in a little SimCity and Flight Simulator and produce a more full-featured game that simulates the job? Again, players could have the option of uploading their scores to a public website, and allow them to enter their email (securely) to get more info?

Not all of our jobs lends themselves so well to simulations and video (I'm not sure SimHRManager would be very popular). But whenever possible, let's take advantage of the technology around us!

Using video games to recruit and select candidates

A new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that:

"virtually all American teens play computer, console, or cell phone games and...the gaming experience is rich and varied, with a significant amount of social interaction and potential for civic engagement."

and

"Game playing is universal, with almost all teens playing games and at least half playing games on a given day"

This raises a question:

Is there a benefit, or even a mandate, to make recruitment and assessment more like a video game?

We've already seen a massive amount of interest in using virtual worlds like Second Life for recruiting (which has met with mixed success). And the U.S. Army is always on the cutting edge with things like America's Army (which has enjoyed quite a bit of success).

When it comes to assessment, we've seen some valiant efforts, such as the virtual job tryout. And video-based testing has been around for a long time.

But with everything that's out there, would you describe your candidate experience as "rich and varied" with a "significant amount of social interaction"?

Laying aside for the moment the fact that many organizations lack even realistic job preview videos, what competitive advantage is to be gained by the employer that figures out how to make its recruitment and selection process interactive? What if instead of the process being a one-way street (candidates search for information about employers, employers try to figure candidates out), it was a two-way simultaneous sharing of information?

Doom came out 15 years ago. The Sims, 8 years ago. Isn't it time we developed realistic 3-dimensional worlds that allow candidates to make real-time branching decisions and learn about a potential employer, while we measure things like attention to detail and judgment?

Is it just me or are we missing an enormous opportunity to attract a new generation of workers and gather valuable competency information at the same time?

Scare applicants into applying

What if instead of convincing applicants to apply based on your brand, your benefits, etc., you scared them? That appears to be the strategy of North Carolina's Office of State Personnel.

Their latest recruiting video is called "We are here"--and no, it's not a documentary of aliens trapped on earth, although I'll forgive you for mistaking it for one.

It is, bar none, the strangest professionally made recruiting video I've ever seen. I really don't know how to describe it, so do this--go check it out and let me know what you think. It's one of those things you'll want to show your co-workers.

(by the way, I do have to give OSP kudos for their other profiled video, which describes the development of a SAS-based knowledge management system called NC WORKS).

Links a go-go

Good reading for February 1, 2008:

U.S. Government launches photo screening tool to help employers verify employment eligibility

New Monster ads (seen the one with the sun coming up?)

Assessment trends for 2008

Increased use of video-sharing sites in U.S.

Attracting IT talent in 2008 (thank you HR World)

Do you know what you don't know you know?

HR academics vs. practitioners

Wanted: Chief Magic Official

You've heard of Chief Knowledge Officer, Chief Fun Officer, and even Chief Evangelist.

But Chief Magic Official?

One guess as to who would be filling that job title.

If you guessed Disney, go to the head of the class.

Yes, Disney is out to hire it's first "CMO" who will appear periodically to grant "dreams" to guests at Disney Parks in Anaheim and Orlando this year. Disney's put together a great recruiting website that includes:

- A Magic Aptitude Test (M.A.T.) that you can take to see if you qualify--you have to take a look at it just to see the pencil you'll be using for the test (by the way, I passed and am apparently similar to Mickey Mouse)

- A great job preview video

- A creative job description and statement of qualifications

In a new twist, applications must include a video resume that will be voted on online. The top three vote getters will be invited (along with three guests) to Walt Disney World resort for further vetting.

So will this work? Probably. It is Disney, after all, who doesn't usually have too much trouble attracting candidates. And some research indicates applicants are more attracted to creative job titles.

But whatever happens, you gotta admire their creativity!

Marsalis jazzes up new EEOC PSAs

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as part of its E-RACE Initiative, has produced two new public service announcements with renowned jazz musician Wynton Marsalis focusing on discrimination and equal opportunity. They're short and to the point, and you can see them here.

Rigorous assessment pays off

It's great when the mainstream press gets assessment right. It doesn't happen a lot, so I want to make sure to point out a good example.

Ellen Simon (AP) devoted a recent article to employers that, even in a tight labor market, put job applicants through the paces.

Some of my favorite bits from the article:

- Employers that recognize their employees are an integral part of their brand. If your employees are unhappy, not trained, or otherwise a bad fit, customers (and potential applicants) notice.

- This quote from Rackspace Managed Hosting CEO Lanham Napier: "We'd rather miss a good one than hire a bad one." Without getting into Type I versus Type II errors, let me just say that Mr. Napier demonstrates the wisdom of someone who's seen what a bad hire can (or can't) do. (Check out their refreshingly simple career portal)

- The fact that Rackspace interviews last ALL DAY. Yep, all day. In this age of "I only have 30 minutes for the interview", that's darn refreshing.

- The wonderful use of realistic job preview videos by Lindblad Expeditions that show employees cleaning toilets and washing dishes. Says Kris Thompson, VP of HR, "If they get on board and say, 'This is not what I expected,' then shame on us." Check out how their online preview video combines push with pull.

I don't agree with everything in the article--I'm not a big fan of the idea of secretly judging people on their waiting room behavior--but all in all some great examples here to recognize.

(by the way, the HBR article Simon cites, called "Fool vs. Jerk: Whom Would you Hire?" is here.

Finally, an assessment gameshow

Okay, so it's not "guess the criterion-related validity", but it's about as close as we're going to get to a game show focused on assessment (The Apprentice notwithstanding).

The show is called "Without Prejudice" and it premiers July 17th on the Game Show Network (GSN). The concept is that a diverse panel made up of "ordinary members of the public" will be judging a similarly diverse group of people and determining who should be given the $25,000 prize.

So how is this like assessment, you say? Well the judges have to decide who they like the most or hate the least and use their judgment to determine who to award the prize to, based on seeing video clips of the contestants and information about their background. What does this sound like? Your average job interview!

What does it look like? In the premier, the first task the panel must do is decide who among the five contestants should be denied the money based on a very quick (about 5 seconds) introduction by the person. The panel focuses heavily on appearance rather than what was said, including making judgments about how wealthy the person is, their age, and their "vibe."

In an interesting twist, the host talks to the people that were "eliminated" about how they felt. (Ever asked a denied job applicant how they were feeling? Could be informative.)

Is it overly dramatic? Absolutely. Will it last? Probably not. Does it give us a vivid example of how quickly impressions are made, and on what basis? Yep.

There's a sneak peek of the premier available on the website. There is also, to their credit, links to information about prejudice, including two questionnaires you can take to probe your own beliefs.

Google buys FeedBurner; introduces Street View

A couple news items today about Google.

First, they continued their buying spree and purchased FeedBurner, a popular feed syndicating service (and the one I use). This will allow Google to advertise in new ways, and also gives them somewhat of a blog end-to-end now that it owns both Blogger and FeedBurner. More information about the purchase is available on FeedBurner's blog, and they have this FAQ. Presumably this means a marriage of their analytic tools, which hopefully is good news for anyone that publishes content.

Implication for us? If you already publish a blog (or other type of feed) or are thinking about it, you'll want to keep close tabs on what this purchase will mean for publishers (e.g., ad distribution, fees, etc.).

Second, Google has introduced Street View, an add-on to Google Maps that allows for 360-degree viewing at the street level. You can even follow arrows that will lead you down the street. Right now it's available only in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Denver, New York, and Miami.

Why do we care? Seems to me a good way to preview the local area for potential applicants. I'm all about the realistic job previews. Also, probably a good opportunity for us to see how our area is being presented--what do candidates see when plopped down in front of our buildings? Would you want to be there?

Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 92, #2: Web Recruitment

March journal madness ends(?) with the latest issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology.

I'll post separately about all the recruitment/assessment goodness in this issue, but today's post is specific to one article: "Aesthetic properties and message customization: Navigating the dark side of Web recruitment" by Dineen, Ling, Ash, and DelVecchio.

Why treat this one special? For starters, it's a great little piece of research. And, it's something that I think many of my readers will be interested in--a way to increase the quality of candidates responding to Web-based recruitment methods and simultaneously cut down on the flood of unqualified applicants.

How do we do such a thing? By paying a lot of attention to two things, say the authors:

1) The aesthetics of your web page/job advertisement content. This refers to things like the fonts you use, graphics, colors, and Web page design. Seems like a no-brainer, but how many specific job postings had you thinking, "Now that's an attractive ad"?

2) The customization of your content. This refers to the extent that information presented to job seekers is tailored to their particular needs, interests, and competencies.

This particular study analyzed responses from 240 upper level undergraduate students enrolled in business courses (93% were business majors). The researchers first had the students fill out a Web-based questionnaire to gather information about their needs, abilities and values. The students then came back about 4 weeks later and viewed an actual Monster.com job advertisement tweaked for the study (the article includes a great example of the actual "ad" that was presented to study participants). Each participant was in one of four conditions:

Condition one: Good aesthetics (job posting with color, pictures, multiple fonts, patterned background) and customized feedback regarding the fit between their needs, abilities, and values, and aspects of the position/organization (e.g., "It appears that your preferences for a company culture are INCONSISTENT with what you would find at [this company]")

Condition two: Good aesthetics and no feedback.

Condition three: Poor aesthetics (black-and-white, no pictures, backgrounds, or varying fonts), and customized feedback.

Condition four: Poor aesthetics and no customized feedback.

The researchers then measured the amount of time spent viewing the posting, information recall, and attraction.

Results? Depends what yer lookin' at:

Viewing time: Highest in condition one (mean of 202 seconds). Including customized information had a big impact on viewing time, but aesthetics mattered only when customized information was present--when there was no customized information, aesthetics mattered much less and overall viewing time was much lower.

Information recall: Pretty much the same thing, except providing customized information helped only if there were good aesthetics.

Attraction: Aesthetics didn't seem to make a difference, but providing customized information resulted in the highest attraction levels.

Why is this happening? The authors suggest it's a result of the amount of cognitive elaboration--the more customized and appealing the information, the "deeper" the processing, meaning better memory of the ad, etc.

But here's probably the best part...when looking at the job-person fit and the above factors, only under condition one did the "low fit" applicants report being less attracted to the job and the "high fit" applicants report being more attracted to the job. What does this mean? That paying attention to the attractiveness of your career website and job opportunities AND helping people understand if they fit with the job and your organization helps folks "select in" and "select out."

The authors say it best: "These strong effects suggest that the combination of good aesthetics and customized information allows job seekers to better recognize when they are a low fit, leading to far less attraction among the lowest fitting individuals."

Bottom line

Allowing potential applicants to self-screen out based on realistic job information has HUGE advantages, both to the individual and the organization. The potential applicant doesn't waste their time going through the (sometimes laborious) process of applying only to later find out the job wasn't what they wanted. The organization doesn't have to spend time and money selecting out these people. The payoff from a little invested upfront, whether it's working on the attractiveness of the web page, providing customized results, or some type of job preview video, pays huge dividends, and is in effect the most effective and efficient form of selection.

By the way, if this type of research is something you're interested in, take a gander at this (thank you, Dr. Lievens), this, and this.

Talent Unconference Videos Available

Several videos from January 25th's "Talent Unconference", the brainchild of Jeff Hunter and hosted at Electronic Arts in California, are now available at the official website.

Topics include:

- Dealing with skills shortages and our educational system (The Big Pipe)

- Process excellence

- Talent planning and strategy

- Value of talent

- Sustainable solutions

- Meaningful connections

- Future tech

Using social networking sites and video

I just attended another good HCI webinar titled "The Next Generation Resume."

Rather than focusing on resumes per se, the presenters covered two main topics:

-Steven Rothberg, President and founder of CollegeRecruiter.com presented on "Facebook, MySpace, and Other Social Networking Sites: Are They Dangerous, Opportunities, or Both?"

- Peter Altieri, Founder and CEO of RecruiTV/wetjello, presented on "Video Resumes/eprofiles...Fad or Reality?"

Major take-aways

1. There are big generational differences in what is perceived as "acceptable" content. What may seem questionable or offensive to a Boomer (e.g., someone in their underwear posted on MySpace) may seem perfectly normal to a Gen Y'r.

2. Evaluating user-generated content on social networking sites (e.g., as part of a background check) may be perceived as offensive and may do you more harm than good.

3. Because of these issues as well as some potential legal complications (e.g., you can never be sure who posted the content), social networking sites are probably best used for sourcing rather than screening out. George Lenard has posted extensively about this on his site. If you do find some negative content, give the candidate an opportunity to explain.

4. You probably already know this, but of the social networking sites, MySpace dwarfs the competition with an 80% share. Even Facebook, which has been getting a lot of press, only has an 8% share.

5. For an example of how to use something like MySpace for recruiting, check out the page the Marines have created, which has been very successful.

6. Job search engines and social networking sites are hookin' up. MySpace and LinkedIn use SimplyHired, Facebook just hooked up with Jobster, etc.

7. There's no case law on misuse of social networking site information (that the speakers knew about), but it may be coming...

8. If you're recruiting for college folk, Facebook is the way to go, with 90% of students using it. For general recruitments, MySpace is superior, with an average user age of 35.

9. If you're interested in posting video to job search pages (I hope that's a big YES), both Jobster and CollegeRecruiter welcome videos from employers. Vault is another popular option.

10. Great suggestion from Altieri for introducing video into your recruiting process: Ask a supervisor what sort of person they're looking for. Get it on video. Share with second round candidates. Or: Ask them to ID a star player. Interview said player. Share with potentials.

While the presentations are available only to "professional" HCI members, Rothberg's presentation was similar (if not identical) to the one he gave at last year's Onrec conference that Joel Cheesman generously posted.

Mystery video

Have you ever had a great candidate on the hook but lost them?

Maybe the process took a little too long, maybe the engagement just wasn't as strong as it could be?

What could you do to prevent situations like this?

Well, I have a challenge for you.

Take a look at this video. And after you do, ask yourself these questions:

1) Did you figure out what the "punchline" was before you saw it? (this is more for my own curiosity, since I didn't!)

2) How could you use something like this?

3) If you already create job preview videos, why aren't you doing something like this?

Feel free to share your answers!

Video interviewing with HireVue

Friday I had a discussion with Mark Newman, the COO and co-founder of HireVue.

What is HireVue? The company's bread and butter is video interviews. But as I found out from my conversation with Mark, there's a lot more here than meets the eye.

First, the basics.

Video capturing candidates can be accomplished in two main ways:

1) The customer has webcams on-site--say, at a career center or college recruiting location. Candidates come in and take interviews either at a scheduled time or you could do first-come-first-serve. HireVue charges $19.95 per interview for these.

2) The candidate wants to do the interview at their home or a location of their choice. In this case they can either use their own camera or HireVue can ship one to them. Cost: $149 per interview.

Candidates are able to see what they're going to look like and have up to 2 minutes to answer each question. They can pause the recording at any time to collect themselves, and once the interview has been recorded it is uploaded to HireVue's servers and is immediately available for viewing.

The 'owner' of the account (typically a recruiter I would think) can then send information to the hiring manager/subject matter expert(s) to rate the interviews and the system can combine ratings of multiple judges.

Now, the complexity...

Here's where things get really interesting:

- This system isn't just for video interviews--you can combine a video interview with multiple-choice questions or essay questions, and you can filter results based on answers to any of these types of items.

- You can record an "introduction" video that candidates see prior to taking the test. This could be anything from a "Hi, thanks for coming" to a full blown job preview video that's already been recorded.

- Although the system uses a basic "number of stars" system to judge candidates, you can easily provide a detailed rating scale to the raters on screen while they are viewing the candidate.

- The graphical menu that pops up when viewing a response allows you to quickly move back and forth among different candidates to compare answers to a particular question.

HireVue's been doing all this for about 18 months, but I just found out about it. Apparently most of their business is coming from word of mouth.

Possible downsides? Some folks might be more nervous taking a video interview than a panel interview (I'm not one of them). Some might be turned off by what they perceive to be an impersonal process. You'll need DSL or above speeds. You may have some raters who simply don't like the feeling of reviewing videos. Finally, the quality is not perfect--it's enough to make out what the person looks like and general emotions, but you won't be staring at beads of sweat. You can see an example of the quality and the interface here.

For me, the biggest advantage of something like this is flexibility. For situations where it's particularly difficult to get panels together this would be a boon. Also, it's more flexible for candidates in that they could come in on their own time and if they get the jitters, no big deal--they could always come back, with no loss of face.

The company's looking to personalize the product in 2007 by doing things like integrating it better with customer websites so it feels more seamless.

More details about HireVue can be found here and here.

One last good piece of information I gleaned from Mark: the webcam they prefer is the Logitech Communicate STX. I think I just thought of another Christmas gift for myself.

The feds rock

Bet you don't hear that very often.

Surfing around today, I came across one of those resources that you hit yourself for not finding sooner.

It's IPMA-HR's Federal Section.

"Wow, Bryan, that sounds fascinating," you're thinking. Well, check it out, that's all I ask. The page has links to a variety of excellent presentations including:

Attracting, Maintaining and Motivating the Best and the Brightest

Categorical Ranking

Recruitment Branding

Attracting Talent - A 21st Century Approach

That last presentation has within it an example of job preview videos created by OPM that are well worth a look. These types of videos are common in the private sector, much less among government agencies--and it's unfortunate that more organizations aren't taking advantage of this technology.

So kudos to the Federal Section for offering such a wealth of information and kudos to OPM for the example they continue to set.

Next up: I had a very interesting demo this afternoon from HireVue, so I will be posting about that shortly!